Lesson 10: Computer as a Tutor

Computer as a Tutor

• The computer is one of the wonder of human ingenuity even in its original design in the 1950’s to carry out complicated mathematical and logical operations. With the invention of microcomputer, the PC has become the tool for programmed instruction. Educator saw much use of the PC. They saw its potential for individualization in learning.

Computer-assisted Instruction (CAI)

• The computer can be tutor in effective relieving the teacher of many activities in his her/her personal role of classroom tutor. It should be made clear, however, that the computer cannot totally replace the teacher since the teacher shall continue to play the major roles of information deliverer and learning environment controller.

The teacher must:

• Insured the students have the neede knowledge and skills for any computer activity.
• Decide the appropriate learning objectives.
• Plan the sequential and tructured activities to achieve objectives.
• Evaluate the students’ achievement by ways of tests the specific expected outcomes.

The students in CAI play their own roles as learners as they:

• Receive information
• Understand instructions for the computer activity
• Retain in mind the information and rules for the computer activity.
• Apply the knowledge and rules during the process of computer learning.

The computer, too, play its role as it:

• Acts as a dort of tutor
• Provides  learning environment
• Delivers learning instruction
• Reinforces learning trough drill-and-practice.
• Provides feedback.

CAI Integrated with Lessons

• CAI works bet in reinforcing learning through repetitive exercises such that students can practice basic skills or knowledge in various subject areas. Common types o drill and practice programs include vocabulary building, math facts, basic sentence, and history or geography facts.

When and how can teachers integrate dril and practices programs with their lessons? The following suggestions can be made:

• Use drill and practice programs for basic skills and knowledge that require rapid or automatic response by students.
• Ensure that drill and practice activities conform to the lesson plan/curriculum.
• Limit drill and practice to 20-30 minutes to avoid boredom.
• Use drill and practice to assists students with particular weakness in basic skills. 

In integrating computer programs in instruction, we use tutorial software associated with cognitive learning. While practice exercise or learning-by-doing is still the heart of each tutorial software should be able to:

• Teach new content/ new information to students (in as much as CAI provides practice on old or already learned content).
• Provide comprehensive information on concepts addition to practice exercises.
• Can be effectively used for remediation, reviewing, or enrichment.
• Allow the teacher to introduce follow-up question to stimulate students learning.
• Permits group activity for cooperate learning.

Simulations Programs

Simulations software materials are another kind of software that is constructivist in nature. 

• Teacher strategies and rules applied to real life problems/situations.
•  Asks students to make decisions o models or scenarios.
• Allow students to manipulate elements of a model and get the exercise of the effect on their decisions.

Instructional Games

• While relation to low-level learning objectives (e.g. basic spelling or basic math skills), instructional computer games add the elements of competition and challenge.

Problem Solving Software

• These are more sophisticated than the drill and practice exercises and allow students to learn and improve on their problem solving ability. Since problem cannot be solved simply by memorizing facts, the students have to employ higher thinking skills such as logic, recognition, reflection, and strategy-making.

Multimedia Encyclopedia and Electronic Books

• The Multimedia Encyclopedia can store a huge database with texts, images,a nimation, audio and video. Students can access and desired information, search it vast contetnts, and even download/print relevant portions of the data for their composition or presentation.

Electronic Books

• Provides textual information of learning for reading, supplemented by other types of multimedia information (sounds, spoken words, pictures animation). These are useful for learning reading, spelling and words skills.

Lesson 9: Computers as Information and Communication Technology

In the educational Technology course 1 the role of the computer in education was well discussed. It was pointed out that advent of the computer is recognized as the third revolution in education.

1.Printing press
2.Libraries
3.Computers

Computer-Assisted Instruction (CAI)

• It was introduced using the principle of individualized learning through a positive climate that include realism and appeal with drill exercises that uses color, music, and animation.

USES OF THE COMPUTER AS INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION

The Personal Computers as ICT

Instructional Media – consists of audio-visual aids that served to enhance and enrich the teaching-learning process. Example: Blackboard, Photo, film and video

Educational Communication Media – Comprise the media of communication to audiences including learners using the print film, radio, television, or satellite means of communication.

Programs normally installed in an ordinary modern in an ordinary modern PC:

• Microsoft Office – Program for composing text, graphics, photos into letters, articles, reorts, etc
• PowerPoint – for preparing lecture presentations
• Excel – for spreadsheets and similar graphics sheets
• Internet Explorer – access to the internet
• Yahoo or Google – websites; e-mail, chat rooms, blog sites, new service, educational software and etc.
• Adobe Reader – Graphs/photo composition and editing
• MSN – mail/chat messaging
• Windows Media Player – CD. VCD player; Editing film/video
• Cyberlink power – DVD player
• Game House – video games

Lesson 8: Thinking Skills through IT-Based Projects

I. Resource-based Projects

• In these projects, the teacher steps out the traditional role of being a context expert and information provider, and instead lets the students find their own facts and information. Only when necessary for the active learning process does the teacher the step in to supply data or information. The general flow of events in resource-based projects is:

1.      The teacher determines the topic for the examination of the class.

2.      The teacher represents the problem to the class.

3.      The students find information on the problem/questions.

4.      Students organized their information in response to the problem/questions.

A Webquest- is am inquiry-oriented activity in which most or all of thei information used by he learners are drawn from the web.

II. Simple Creations

• Students can also be assigned to create their software materials to supplement the need for the relevant and effective materials.

• In developing software, creativity as an outcome should not be equated with ingenuity of high intelligence. Creating si more constant with planning, making, assembling, designing, or building. Creativity is said to be combine in three kind of skill/abilities:

Analyzing- distinguishing similarities and differences/ seeing the project as a problem to be solved

Synthesizing- Making spontaneous connections among ideas, thus generating interesting or new ideas.

Promoting- selling of new ideas to allow the public to test ideas themselves.

The Five Key Tasks

• Define the task- clarify the goal of the completed project to the students.
• Brainstorm- The students themselves will be allowed to generate their own ideas on the project.
• Judge the idea- The students themselves make an appraisal for or against any idea.
• Act- The students do their own work with the teacher a facilitator.
• Adopt flexibility the students should allow to shift gears and not follow an action path rigidly.

III. Guide Hypermedia Projects

The production of self-made multimedia projects can be approached in two different ways:

• As an instructive tool, such as in the production by students of power-point presentation of a selected topic.
• As a communication tool, such as when students do a multimedia presentation (with text, graphs, photos, audio narration, interviews, video clips, etc. to simulated a television news show. 

IV. Web-based Projects

• Students can be made to create and post webpages on a given topic. But creating webpages, even single page webpage, may be too sophisticated and time consuming for the average students.

Lesson 7: Evaluation of Technology Learning

• The standard student evaluation of learning must change. This is justified by the fact that not only has the new generation changed into digital learners, but the traditional world has metamorphosed into a digital world.
• Assessment needs to conform, not with literacy of the past century but the new literacy in 21^st century. This literacy uses digital tools in preparing students to face high-tech world.
• The comparison is made with the Swiss watch-makers which failed to adapt digital watch-making. The Swiss watch lost its prime position in less than 2 years of neglect to the need to go digital.  
• Evaluation must be geared to assessment of essential knowledge and skills so that learners can function effectively, productively and creativity in a new world.

It must use evaluative tools that measure the new basic skills of the 21^st century digital culture namely:

•  solution fluency
•  information fluency
•  collaboration fluency
• creative fluency
•  media fluency and
•  digital citizenship

For example: In reading, single text becomes less important compared with empowerment process of being imbibed by varied informative, educational and recreational literature-textual, audiovisual, digital. Apart from form reading, learners are asked to engage in the process of writing reports, essays, articles, stories, power-point presentations, video scripts, drama skills, etc. The standard paper tests will prove inadequate in assessing new learning.

• As students engage in the problem solving process, assessment will also need to focus on 4 Ds (define, design, do, debrief) that empower students to solve problems using higher-level theoretical and practical thinking. 

• As product-outcome learning changes from verbal-textual to textual to digital expressions (research-based outputs in various forms such as audio, video, power-point, multimedia, etc.) evaluation must also changed.

Mass Amateurization

• A term which implies a mass reach of student outputs. The personal and group creative activities in school should aim in bridging the gap between amateur creators of outputs to professional creators of future outcomes and products in the real world. 

Lesson 6: Developing Basic Digital Skills

• As teachers adjust their teaching effectively match the new digital world of information and communication technology (ICT), they must be clear on what basic knowledge, skills and values (or illiteracies) need to be developed by digital learners.

 Solution Fluency

• This refers to the capacity and creativity in problem solving.

Information Fluency

• This involves 3 subsets of skills namely,

a. An ability to access information, access may involve not only of the internet, but other sources like the CD-ROM software.

b. An ability to retrieve information, received information may include not only texts, but images, sound and video.

c. An ability to reflect on, assess and rewrite for instructive information packages.

  Collaboration fluency

• This refers to teamwork with virtual or real partners in the online environment. 

 Media Fluency

• Media refer to channels of mass communication (radio, television, magazines, advertising, (graphic arts) or digital sources.

Creativity fluency

• Artistic proficiency adds meaning by way of design, art, and storytelling to package a message.

 Digital ethics

• The digital citizen is guided by principles of leadership, global responsibility, environmental awareness, global citizenship, and personal accountability.
  

Higher thinking skills

• Entering the new world of information and communication technology opens the way of complex and higher cognitive skills.  

• The Above taxonomy is patterned after new scientific knowledge on the human brain works. The right hemisphere of the brain works sequentially through a series of events like talking, reading, and writing.
• By developing higher thinking skills, the school today can inculcate the digital fluencies, while overcoming limitations inherent in digital technology, resulting in superficial and mediocre learning skills of new learners.

The structured problem solving-process known as 4D’s exemplifies the instructional shift in digital learning:

• Define the problem

• Design the solution

• Do the work

• Debrief the outcome

Understandably, the teacher will have to move away from center stage of the classroom, and allow students the limelight of the teaching-learning process.